Ever I Loved
by ElizabethBella
Summary: When Joey has simple outpatient surgery, things go bad. Will Pacey lose her? Post-finale night of heartbreak, reunion, love, punches, bad coffee, and 'what could have been'. The popular 1st story in my series works as standalone Whole cast appears. R/R!
1. 3PM

_Note: Dawson's Creek and all its inhabitants belong to the mind of Kevin Williamson, and the corporations of the WB, and assorted others. I am just taking them out to play. Please don't sue me._

_W/N: The idea for this was inspired by a thought I had re-watching the 'True Love", which was – 'she's got no luggage, no purse, and she's out at sea with a brand-new boyfriend. How is she going to possibly get tampons?"_

_This is NOT a story about tampons._

_The story picks up 2 years after the finale. Dawson is still living in California, Andie a doctor in Boston (which was shown in the DVD version of the finale but cut from the broadcast, I think), Jack a teacher in Capeside, raising Amy (Jen's daughter) with Doug Witter (sheriff)._

_In the finale, Pacey had re-opened the Ice House restaurant in Capeside. He and Joey had reunited, and the last seen, Pacey had joined Joey in New York City – moved in or just visiting? Never spelled out._

_Then, 6 months before this story opens, Joey is diagnosed with Endometriosis. The monthly pain gets worse. Needing time to deal with the disease, she leaves her job and New York City and goes to live with Pacey in his townhouse in Capeside._

_Eventually, her doctors decide to schedule her for outpatient laser surgery to give her some real relief f. Believing that she is about to get her life back, she heads out to California for a vacation before the surgery – a break from the cabin fever of months without the stimulus of NYC and her fast-paced career. She visits Dawson and interviews for a job with an LA-based publishing company…._

**…………………………  
The Week Before**

Joey Potter adjusted the strap of her shoulder bag and tried to shake off the fog of five hours spent on a plane flying across a continent.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the bright blue tag on her suitcase as it came around the luggage carousel. When a large hand grabbed off before she could reach it, she started to shout.

Then she saw his face. And breathed out a small sigh with the little butterflies that twisted inside her chest.

"Hey," he said, slipping his free hand into the small of her back. Leaning in to kiss the edge of her forehead softly.

"Hey," she answered, pressing her cheek into the cotton of his t-shirt. "You're a surprise. I told you last night that I could take the train."

"I told YOU last night that I'd be here," Pacey reminded her, slipping his arm around her shoulders and leading Joey over to the stairs and across the pedestrian bridge into the garage.

"How was the flight?"

"Long." She looked down when he caught her eye.

"Yeah," he agreed, stopping to really look at her. He took in the hunch of her shoulders and the subdued expression on her face. "OK, let's get you home as soon as possible" he announced, leading her through the cars to his Cherokee.

Pacey tossed Joey's bag in back before climbing behind the wheel. Within minutes he'd negotiated their way through the twists and turns out to the interstate. Joey relaxed into her seat, watching the scenery out her window.

"Jo?"

"Yeah, Pace?"

"How are you, really? Because you seemed to have returned from California paler than you left."

"Just tired," she told him.

"Anything I should know about the trip?"

Joey didn't answer. The car slipped into the dark of a tunnel and she closed her eyes.

"But you're OK?"

She nodded. "I'm OK."

"I'll let you rest then." As they emerged from the tunnel and back into the sun, Pacey pushed the sunglasses off his head and over his eyes. By the time they pulled into the short driveway of the townhouse, it was noon. The traffic out of Boston had been horrendous, as usual. He felt grimy and stiff from the roundtrip drive but one look at Joey made it clear she was in even worse shape.

Pacey carried her bag up the stairs as Joey slowly followed, her hand trailing the banister. In their bedroom, he closed the curtains against the early summer sun that was pouring in like klieg lights on a stage.

"You made the bed," Joey smiled.

"I'm domesticated," he reminded her. "Plus, I figured you'd be wiped out and maybe want a nap."

"Yes, thank you. But a shower first," she decided, unpacking with quick, efficient motions. "I smell like the plane." When it was empty, she tucked the cosmetics bag under her arm before stowing the suitcase at the back of the closet.

He watched her walk away, off to the bathroom. Heard the water kick on, and the shower curtain slide open. And dropped on his back on the bed with a long sigh.

The conversations they weren't having resting heavy in his chest.

**…………………………  
3PM THE DAY OF SURGERY**

"About my trip…"

"Oh," Pacey groaned, from his seat he dropped his head on the edge of her hospital bed and sighed. Joey squeezed his fingers tight and he looked back up at her. "You're like 5 minutes away from surgery. After maintaining radio silence on the subject for the past week, isn't there ANY other time you could pick to talk about this?"

"Just in case…"

"There is NO 'just in case'. Simple keyhole laparoscopy. I checked with Andie. I Googled it. I Yahoo'd it. And by God, yes, I even 'Jeeves'd' it. This is mundane, run-of-the-mill stuff, Jo. Less risky than walking through Central Park. So there will be no mountain-making here."

"Pacey…" Joey stroked his short brown hair, trying not to let the anxiety show.

"Yes, Jo," he exhaled deeply and sat back up.

"About my trip."

"Yes, Jo," he repeated, surrendering.

"I, well, there was a misunderstanding."

"Let me guess. There was no job interview, was there?" Pacey asked, giving voice to this vague, black fear that had been in his mind since she'd told him about the trip in the first place.

"There was," she assured him. "Just not for a job I would have wanted." Joey looked at the wall, trying to collect her thoughts. A thousand times she had imagined herself explaining, but still she couldn't find the right words to put together. "I guess I just wanted a break."

"A break from me?" Pacey told himself that they were in a hospital. That someone was about to cut into Joey. That he was going to stay calm.

_Stay Calm. Stay Calm..._

"I wasn't running away from YOU, Pace. I just wanted a break from this decision that hangs over our heads all the time. I thought if I got away from…"

"From what, Jo?" Pacey met her eyes.

"This sounds crazy," she gave a small sad smile. "I guess from what I want FOR you, for … both of us, really…"

"I don't understand." Pacey repeated 'Stay Calm' mantra in his head.

_It wasn't working._

_Dammit._

"Pacey, look around at the life you've made. You take care of the people who work for you; you've invested in this town. God, your restaurant sponsors a little league team! You haven't built all this to end up following me around. Don't you picture something more?"

"Joey, first of all, it's OUR restaurant. I lease that space from you and Bessie and that means we're in it together. Second of all, my choices up until now have been made pretty much in the moment. If it's all added up to something, well, no one is more surprised than me. I don't have a magic vision of the future. In absolute point of fact, being with you IS my ideal. No agenda, no hidden desires. Whatever would make you happy would make me happy, and that's what I want."

"That can't be all," she told him quietly. "Since this whole thing started, that's all you've said. But it's not true. You're not in high school anymore, Pace. There's a world beyond the all those closed doors you used to imagine. A life you've built. A life WE'RE building. Having kids, if, when… We should be able to talk about what this all means. It may be my body, but it's happening to US."

" 'Us' didn't go to California," he reminded her, feeling the bitterness on his tongue.

"You're right," she conceded, sincerely. "The trip was a mistake. It messed things up, Pacey. I'm sorry."

"OK, let's start there. What DID it mess up, Jo? Because you've been more depressed since you got back than when you left." The dread was back, and he tried to get her to meet his eyes. She wouldn't.

_Bad sign._

"I think… I know… that I maybe gave Dawson the impression that I was considering moving out to the West Coast. Of…"

"Leaving me? God, Joey," Pacey could hear the blood roaring in his ears. Feel the cold falling into his lips and fingertips. She looked at him with such sadness that he suddenly had a picture what happened, like a movie playing in front of him.

What his imagination conjured up made his brain melt inside his skull.

Joey reached for his hand. Words forming on her lips...

...Just as a cheery nurse entered the room with a wheelchair.

Joey obediently followed the nurse's instructions and transferred into the wheelchair, holding the back of her gown shut with one hand while trying to negotiate around her IV tube. For a long moment, Pacey just watched, unable to make his brain switch gears to the big bad whatever of California to her being wheeled away for surgery.

"I'll see you later," she said softly, as she was maneuvered out the door.

Pacey finally found his feet and raced to catch up.

"I'll be waiting," he promised, kissing her cheek softly.

She looked back at him from the elevator, giving a small wave as the doors closed.

He stood, staring at the silver doors, for he didn't know how long.

Finally, behind him in the hallway, Pacey heard a voice.

"Coffee or… hmmm… chicken broth," Jack asked, reading from the vending machine offerings.

"Hey, man," Pacey breathed gratefully. "What are you doing here?"

Jack snorted. "What do you think? Cruising for cute doctors. In case your brother doesn't work out."

Pacey gave a short laugh and accepted the cup of black water from him with a nod.

Jack and Pacey found adjoining vinyl seats in the waiting area. "How's she doing?" Jack asked.

"Good. Ready." Pacey rubbed his neck and glanced over at the nurses' station. "Better than me."

"So this is just a routine thing, right?"

"Laparoscopic exploratory to confirm the diagnosis. Plus removal of tissue for biopsy, especially this one cyst. Not that I get a straight answer from them, but your sister told me it's usually 45 minutes, maybe an hour, in and out. Unless they find lesions they want to take care of right away."

"OK…" Jack looked around Capeside Hospital's waiting room and sighed. "I hate this place."

"Yeah," Pacey agreed. "You didn't have to come…"

"You weren't going to be sitting here alone, dude. Besides, my classes were done for the day. Doug is going to pick up Amy from aftercare so it's all covered. Unless you would prefer him here instead of me…"

Pacey shook his head violently, and they shared a quick, knowing smile.

"So how was her trip to California?"

Pacey groaned. "Jackers, I know you're trying to be a good friend and make chit-chat to keep my mind off what's happening with Joey, but if there is one thing I want to talk about less than this surgery, it's her recent trip to La-La land."

"Awkward silence, then?"

"Absolutely. Punctuated periodically with comments about the time."

Jack smiled, and, as if choreographed, the two old friends sank deep into their seats. Sipping bad coffee and lost in separate thoughts.


	2. 4PM

w/n: _Dawson's Creek_ doesn't belong to me, I'm just taking the characters out to play. Also, _24_ doesn't belong to me either, but I am sort of stealing their format in breaking the night/chapters into hours. Also? I heart feedback. Please r/r... Especially since this is my first "FanFiction" piece...

**…………………………  
4PM**

A woman in a white coat and blue scrubs finally approached down the hall. Pacey stood quickly, rubbing his palms down his shorts to get the sweat off.

"Mr. Potter?" she asked.

"Sure," Pacey accepted, waving away the name change. "How is she?"

"She's fine, still in surgery. They asked me to come out and give you an update."

"Still in surgery…?" Jack repeated, standing as well.

"What's taking so long?" Pacey demanded.

The nurse glanced at her watch, "The initial diagnosis took 30 minutes. The surgeon confirmed the endometriosis. She took samples for biopsy, as planned. She then initiated the laparoscopic excision of the mid-sized endometrioma indicated by the sonogram on one of the ovaries. "

"OK," Pacey exhaled. "I… just… it's been over an hour and no one has told us…."

"It's very precise surgery, Mr. Potter. But she's doing fine," the doctor repeated patiently. "Someone will be back to give you an update in a bit, OK?"

Pacey and Jack both nodded, and sat back down as she walked away.

" 'Precise surgery'? Sure, and what happened to 'it's no big deal'," Jack muttered.

Pacey let out a quick bark of laughter. "No, I would say this is the opposite of big deal." He glanced at Jack. "Did Joey tell you about the baby?"

"Baby?" Jack parroted, looking confused.

"Oh, yes," Pacey rubbed the corners of his mouth nervously. "Endometriosis can cause serious infertility. If a woman with endometriosis wants to get pregnant, her best chances are after – and I mean, like immediately after – the surgery."

"Oh, God," Jack patted his friend's back, not knowing what to say.

"The last appointment we had, before her trip, the doctor told us that the ultimate treatment could end up being a hysterectomy. That if we wanted kids, it could be now or never."

"Now or never?"

"His very words."

"She's only…"

"26 years old, I know."

"This sucks, Pace."

"Sucks up one side and down the other," Pacey agreed.

"How are you…?"

"Me?"

"It's your life, too, Pace."

"God. Not you, too. She _IS_ my life, Jack. She knows that I'll stand with her whatever she decides."

"Huh," Jack nodded, thinking.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"It's something, you're making that face. I know that face, you got it from my brother."

Jack chuckled. "I was just wondering if it was, you know, fair to put the whole thing on her. Don't you have an opinion? I mean, do you want kids, Pacey? If it's now or never, which do you want?"

"Whatever makes her happy is good with me."

"Well, maybe she feels the same about you," Jack answered gently. "How would you feel if she told you it was all your decision?"

"It's not my body, so that pretty much won't happen."

"But this isn't just about whose body it is, Pacey. I mean, you wouldn't want to be making unilateral decisions for the both of you any more than she does. If you don't voice your feelings then you put it all on her."

"Jack, I've been in love with her for more than 10 years. I spent 7 of those years without her. That's as far as I get."

"Get farther," Jack instructed. "Maybe I'm sensitive to this because of Amy. I forced Doug to either take us as a pair or lose us both. And, your brother? Not a guy who does the mess and feeding of small children well."

"True. He infamously tried to dust-bust several of my nephews. But he adores Amy."

"He does," Jack agreed. "But if Jen hadn't died," his voice cracked a bit and he exhaled. "Uh, if Jen hadn't died, I would never have just gone off and made the decision to become a father without Doug being on board. Parenthood changes every part of life, man. It's something you both have to decide. Together."

"What if…" Pacey sighed. "She's always been the one with the clear picture of how she wanted life to turn out, you know? Me? Not so much. I figured, when we got back together, that I would end up relocating to NYC. I mean, eventually. Because that's where her dreams are."

"You never told me that."

"If this thing, this endometriosis, hadn't gotten so bad, I probably would have put the townhouse up for sale this summer. I was hoping…" Pacey couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.

"Yeah," said Jack, understanding. He gave what he hoped was a supportive smile.

"Yeah," Pacey agreed, resting his head back on the seat and closing his eyes in frustration.

"So she's moved here to Capeside, to YOU, and you're worried she resents it?"

"I know she does," Pacey said firmly. "Since the time that girl could string together a sentence she's been talking about getting out of Capeside. Her and Dawson, on a rocket ship out of here."

"Wow, look how long it took for you bring that name into the conversation," Jack pointed out, dry exasperation written on his face.

"Hard to think about forever with Joey Potter without sparing at least a moment's thought for her ex-soulmate."

"But you're her life-mate, man. You're the one who shares a home with her. Everyday with her. Take a look around, Pacey. You're the one here, at the hospital."

Out of the corner of his eye, Pacey saw someone rushing towards them. He sat up, disbelief washing down his back. "You were saying…?"

Jack stared down the hall and blinked. "I didn't see that one coming," he admitted.

"So. How is she?" Dawson Leery asked, as he arrived in front of their seats.


	3. 5PM

**…………………………  
5PM**

"Coffee or…. Chicken broth?" Dawson asked Jack, reading from the list on the vending machine.

"Uh, coffee. I can always dump it out and use the cup to fill up at the water fountain."

"Good idea," Dawson agreed, pushing change into the slots. "Usually I have a bottle with me, I think I left it on the plane."

"Andie, right?" Jack asked, taking the cup and carefully pouring out the black liquid into the water fountain drain.

Dawson shot him a glance. "What makes you think Joey didn't tell me herself?"

"Did she?" Jack refilled the cup and took a taste. "Ick," he announced. "Bad idea. Water's not cold."

"Yes, actually," Dawson took a sip of the bad coffee with a resigned grimace.

"Oh," Jack tossed away his cup and sat back down.

"You're surprised," Dawson noticed.

Jack shrugged. He remembered, a long time ago, thinking that Dawson's feelings for Joey Potter were more possessive than romantic. And then he'd spent an entire summer watching Dawson's heartbreak at losing her. Jack had learned to stop being surprised by these three.

"She told me about the endometriosis when she was visiting. It was pretty obvious from the pile of medications she was taking that something was wrong. She made this surgery today sound like an outpatient thing, but I got it in my head yesterday that I should be here."

"You didn't tell her you were coming?"

"I tried…" Dawson tossed away his cup, too, and sat next to Jack. "She, uh, wasn't returning my calls."

Jack glanced at him. "What happened when she visited?"

Dawson glanced back. "Nothing, really. Mostly, we had a great time. It was just, you know, a week of wonderful days."

Jack glanced out the window, where Pacey was leaning under a tree, his cell phone against his ear. "Dawson?" Jack prompted. "What are you not saying, here?"

They shared a look.

Dawson was the first to break away, and stare at his shoes. "It's crazy, I know," he admitted softly. "Two years ago we had this big 'define the relationship' moment and we agreed not to risk any more romantic implosions. What we have…" he shrugged.

"So what's changed?"

"I don't know," Dawson admitted. "I'm 27 years old, and what if the only time I'll ever truly be happy in love were a few astonishing months in high school?"

"It won't be," Jack promised.

"It's hard to have faith in the sight of overwhelmingly contrary evidence, Jack," he answered. "The way she makes me feel, even now…just to see her walking across the room…I mean, I'm not a monk. I've dated. There have been some women, starting with Jen, that I know I've loved. But there's something about Joey Potter that was just…"

"Nostalgia may be a great place to visit, Dawson, but…"

"Joey came to me," he said bluntly. "Last week, she was in my kitchen boiling herself tea and laughing at some stupid line from a script I was reading to her. And you know something, Jack? I was happy. Happier than I have been in a really long time. And nothing felt missing. No existential angst boiling in the back of my superego. In that moment, I felt like everything important was absolutely and completely in the right place. You know?"

Jack groaned and hung his head low. "So that's how you feel," he sighed. "The question is – how does SHE feel? Because, I got to tell you man – for the last 6 months, Doug and Amy and I have had brunch with Pacey and Joey almost every Sunday. And they're together, man. Not on any existential plane, either. Right here on the planet Earth – Capeside, USA."

Dawson shook his head and exhaled in a huff.

"Just… go gently, OK?" Jack asked, his voice low as he watched Pacey reenter the hospital through the automatic glass doors. "Carefully. Because I think this thing she's being going through is maybe making everything a little complicated and…" he stopped as Pacey approached.

"Hey," Pacey said, slipping back into a seat. "So, Andie says that there are too many variables to guess how long this will take."

"Is she on shift?" Jack asked, glancing at the large clock over the nurses' station.

"No, she's off tonight."

Jack nodded, and the three men fell quiet.

"I forgot to ask," Dawson turned to Jack. "How is Doug's reelection campaign going?"

"At this point, election results may not even matter," Jack rolled his eyes. "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is really pushing for Capeside to set up local police services as an independent town now that the county system is being phased out."

"I thought that was settled," Pacey thought out loud. "Aren't we're keeping the Sheriff system in some kind of exemption like Nantucket?"

"What we decided in a town meeting in between Library fines and dock fees would maybe hold more weight if we first decided to be a real town, legally and all that."

"Point," Dawson nodded. "Of course, if you did that, then…"

"We'd have to go ahead and set up a town police force," Jack finished with a grim smile. "And don't ask what it would do to the schools. At this point, no one really knows what's going to happen. Some of the deadlines for objecting were back in 1999. You wouldn't believe the paperwork Doug is dealing with."

"1999? And my dad didn't deal with it then?"

Jack and Pacey shared a look. "Right," Pacey said, a little bitterly.

The nurse from before walked briskly to them, indicating Pacey. To Dawson and Jack's frustration, Pacey got up and met her far enough into the hallway that they couldn't overhear.

"Mr. Potter…"

"Actually," Pacey said softly, "It's Witter."

"Oh," she glanced down at the file in her hands and leafed through the papers. "Mr. Witter, right," she looked up and shut the file. "There's been a development. The endometrioma on her ovary has proven complex and the surgeon was unable to remove it via the laparoscopic cystectomy. He's gone ahead and made the decision to convert the procedure to a laparotomy. This is means he has made a larger incision to open the abdomen to more traditional methods of excising the tissue. This possibility was explained to you and Ms. Potter earlier, when the surgeon reviewed the authorizing paperwork?"

"Yes. The low-chance-possibility Plan B.…" Pacey shook his head, mostly to himself. "Uh, so explain complex?"

The nurse thought for a second. "It's what they call a 'chocolate cyst' because it is dark with old blood. It is partially embedded in the ovary, which makes this a more delicate procedure."

Pacey leaned against the wall and panted a bit so he wouldn't throw up on the nice woman. "They didn't see this before?"

"The sonogram is a good first-look tool but it doesn't have the ability to discern some of the specifics. That's why we do the keyhole, to explore and confirm. It may have appeared to be in front of the ovary, but once they got in, they were able to determine its exact placement."

"OK," Pacey breathed. "How long…?"

"It could be another hour or more. We'll update you as soon as we have news, I promise."

"Thanks," he nodded and slowly walked back under the bright fluorescent lights of the waiting room. As he looked up, he heard the automatic doors open with a hiss. Bessie stepped quickly through the rows of seats towards Pacey. Dawson and Jack jumped up and joined them.

"How is she?" Bessie asked, pulling Pacey, then Dawson, into quick hugs.

"They've converted to the laparotomy," Pacey answered.

"Oh," Bessie answered, sitting down.

"Oh," Jack echoed, wiping his hand down his face as if trying to wipe away the sudden anxiety.

Pacey looked over at Dawson and explained, "This is more traditional surgery versus the keyhole thing. They've opened her up so they can get it all."

Dawson dug his fists into his pockets and looked out at the darkening skies beyond the exit doors. He didn't know what to say.

"I need coffee," Bessie announced after several long, quiet moments staring at the large clock.

"Sure," Jack answered, heading to the vending machine. "It's on me. But you're going to wish," Jack warned, digging in his pocket for change, "that you'd picked the chicken broth."


	4. 6PM and 7PM

**…………………………  
6PM**

Dawson turned a little so the nurses couldn't see him texting on his Blackberry.

"That nurse in pink catches you again, she's gonna call the hospital police on your ass," Jack warned. "And those guys are evil."

"The policies here are absolutely ludicrous," Dawson griped, stretching his head and neck and trying to control his frustration. "I need to get these notes done before the end of the business day back in LA."

"I thought you were on hiatus," Pacey pointed out, leaning his head back in the uncomfortable chair and closing his eyes against the damn fluorescent lights.

"We are. But I've got a pilot out that's in real consideration. We're cut off from the universe in this room. Nuclear war could break out, and we wouldn't know until the mutants invaded."

"Isn't that movie you made in High School?"

"He's got a point. How can all these TV's be broken?" Bessie wondered, looking at the dark black boxes hanging on the walls.

Pacey started to answer, but his heart leaped as he noticed a nurse marching over.

"She's coming for you, Dawson," Jack warned.

"Not this one," Pacey told him. The four stood, and Pacey stepped forward.

"Mr. Witter?" She asked.

Pacey nodded and walked into the hallway.

"The good news - the endometriosis has proved to be mild to moderate, with few adhesions and all the tests came back negative," she told him. "The samples are all benign."

Pacey exhaled, leaning forward in relief. "So what's the bad news?"

"The endometrioma on her ovary ruptured during removal. This is not uncommon, Mr. Witter. The surgeon and their team have addressed the hemorrhage and are completing the lavage."

"Hemorrhage..." he repeated, felling sick again. He stood up to his full height and took a deep breath. "All right, explain this to me. How serious is this? Is there a risk to Joey's life?"

"Joey is stable, Mr. Witter. They'll be giving her IV antibiotics to address possible peritonitis. But the way the endometrioma was positioned, the surgeon will need to go ahead and perform a unilateral oophorectomy."

"Take the ovary, you mean," Pacey rubbed his mouth in shock. When he looked at his hand he could see a tremor.

"Yes."

"I'll be back to update you as soon as I know more," she said, before heading back to the nurses' station.

Pacey nodded, couldn't speak.

He stood in the hallway after she'd left, trying to make his face calm before facing them. He could actually feel the three sets of eyes on his back.

_One foot._

_In front of the other._

He got to Bessie like a drunk man, trying to walk a straight line.

"Tell me," she ordered.

"There's been a... rupture. They have to take one of her ovaries, Bess."

"No," she argued.

"It's, uh, burst. There's the possibility of shock, peritonitis…" Pacey heard himself speaking and nothing felt real.

Dawson didn't say anything. Just swallowed a couple of times and then marched off, over to a window.

Jack followed, talking to his old friend quietly.

Bessie slid an arm around Pacey's waist. He leaned his head on hers and sighed. "This is a frigging nightmare."

"Yes," she agreed. They fell quiet, watching the nurses' station.

Behind them, Pacey suddenly heard a shout. Turning, he could just make out the blond hair of a person crushed in Jack's embrace.

"Andie?" Pacey called, jogging towards her.

"I got sick of answering the phone," she told him, reaching out.

Pacey reached back, pulling her up into his arms and felling the tiny, familiar body against his. He buried his face behind her ear. "Thank you for coming," he whispered.

"Pacey?" she whispered back, her arms locked around his chest.

"Yeah?"

"I can't breathe."

He slowly lowered her to the floor.

"Jack says there's been a rupture? That they're removing an ovary?"

Pacey couldn't speak. He just nodded.

"OK, let me go talk to them. In the meantime, Jackers, I'll need coffee. The rain started just as I was leaving Boston. I was so punchy that I was singing along to the squeak of my window wipers. "

Looking out through the glass exit doors, Pacey was actually startled to realize she was right. It was raining.

"Andie, this stuff is poison…" Jack indicated the machine with his thumb.

"Bring it on," she told him with a wave. "When I was an intern I mainlined worse to get through those double shifts. With Twinkie chasers."

"Don't say we didn't warn you," Jack called after her as she approached the nurses' station.

"It's funny, I never think of her as 'Dr. McPhee' but right now…"

"It's like the cavalry has arrived," Jack finished Dawson's thought, dropping coins into the machine.

"Yeah," Pacey agreed. He turned and locked eyes with Dawson. And in an instant, a dozen years fell away between them and they could read each other's thoughts.

With a long sigh, they stood side by side and watched as, down the hall, Andie wrangled the nurses.

The silence returned, pressing into them.

"You know what," Dawson announced, stretching his arms over his head. "We can't just stand here, Pace."

"You're right. We're men of action," He agreed, rubbing the tension from his cheeks. He looked around. And then up. "So. How hard do you think it would be to fix one of these televisions?"

**…………………………  
7PM**

"I don't understand," she said. "How come he loses his turn?"

"He tried to buy a 'U', Bessie. And there's no 'U' in the answer." Dawson explained.

"But he wasn't using a guess, right? He was paying for it. So shouldn't it stay his turn?"

"No," Jack answered.

"I tell you, this game is cutthroat," Pacey commented, squinting a little at the screen.

The four of them sat in a row, heads back, watching the wheel turn on TV.

"Oh," Jack groaned. "How do they find these contestants?"

"I mean, a 'W'? Who guesses a 'W'?"

"You mean it's not 'whirlpool'?" Pacey asked.

The other three turned to stare at him a long minute.

"Guess not," he laughed.

As a commercial cut in loudly, Andie stepped back into the waiting room from her third visit to the nurse's station.

Dawson quickly jumped up and turned down the volume manually.

"OK," Andie announced. "They're done. Joey's out of surgery."

Almost in the same moment, they all gusted out a sigh of relief. Bessie reached over and squeezed Pacey's arm and smiled.

"She's OK?" Dawson asked.

Andie held up a hand to forestall the questions a second so she could take a big swallow of bad, cold coffee. "This really _is_ poison," she noted before looking back at the small group waiting for her news. "She's stable."

"I hate that term," Pacey grumbled. "It doesn't really mean anything. How is she in REAL words, Andie?"

"She's fine, Pace. Stable just means that that all her vital systems are working the way they should. It means they've already started to bring her out of the anesthesia to wake her up and she is having all the right responses and reactions. Right now, they're moving her into Post-Op for observation for a few hours before they find her a regular room," she paused and took a deep breath.

"Can I go see her?" Pacey asked as Andie took another long sip from her cup.

"Yes, they're expecting you."

Pacey pulled himself out of the chair, stretching the soreness out of his legs as much as he could. Then he hurried to the nurses' station to be escorted to Joey.

Andie looked at Bessie and gave a quick smile. "They'll send back for us when she can handle more visitors."

Bessie nodded. "So what's going to happen now?"

"Well, they've got your sister hooked up to fluids and intravenous antibiotics. They're going to be monitoring for signs of infection or internal bleeding. You'll be surprised how fast they'll push her into getting up and walking, because we know that the sooner a patient moves around the sooner they heal. And the doctors will prescribe some IV pain medication, because she's going to be hurting for a while."

Bessie nodded and pulled out her phone to call Bodie, remembered the rule, and headed for the exit.

Jack grabbed his windbreaker and followed, pressing the speed dial for Doug's number as he walked.

Dawson sat down next to Andie with a sigh. "Thank you for coming out like this, Andie."

"Are you kidding? I was already in my car by the third phone call," she smiled. She looked around the small waiting room and sighed. "You know, there was brief, insane moment when I actually thought of doing my residency here."

"After Jen died," he recalled softly.

Andie nodded, "I should have been here for you. I mean, everyone."

"You came when you could," Dawson argued. "You were literally graduating your internship and medical school, Andie. I have to believe that two years is long enough to declare a moratorium on unnecessary guilt."

"Not in our family," she laughed.

Dawson glanced again down towards the nurses' station, at the swinging doors that stood between them and Joey. And Pacey. For a moment, a deep ripping tug of desperation made him want to jump up and run through them. He forced himself to relax.

"You OK, Dawson?"

"No," he told her calmly. "No, I'm not."


	5. 8PM

w/n: _Dawson's Creek_ doesn't belong to me, I'm just taking the characters out to play. Also, _24_ doesn't belong to me either, but I am sort of stealing their format in breaking the night/chapters into hours. Shiney 1983, LiZ457, Pacey W's Girl, Jm-b, THANK YOU for reviewing. I have never written DC fanfiction before and I thought I might be going to wordy or slow... here's Pacey and Joey's reunion, and the setup for Dawson and Pacey. I never really felt, even in teh finale, that Dawson was willing to admit he and Joey weren't going to really happen - so that's what's coming. Also? What Joey (and Pacey and Dawson) will do faced with the surgical aftermath...  
I heart the eedback. Please r/r... it makes me better.

**…………………………  
8PM**

Pacey watched her.

She was so pale under the florescent lights. Underneath the wires and tubes and the orange smears on her skin from some chemical, so thin. The ends of her loose ponytail snarled against her cheek.

_So fragile._

"Hello?" she whispered.

Pacey jumped to her side and squatted down, to bring his face even with hers. "Hey, there you are," he said softly. With a knuckle, he carefully pulled a few strands of hair away from her mouth. Joey jumped a little from the contact.

"Ow," she whispered.

She tried to look around, but the light was so bright that it was making her cry. Her throat burned, and her stomach felt ripped in half. Everything HURT.

"Pacey…"

"I'm here, Jo." He looked around and found a chair to drag to her bedside. "I bet you're not feeling so good right about now, but everything's all right. Everything's going to be fine."

She gave a tiny tilt of her head to show she heard.

A doctor and one of the nurses pulled open the curtain behind him. Pacey watched as they peeked at Joey's wounds and the nurse helped Joey into a more sitting position.

Joey tentatively reached out her hand. Pacey slipped his palm carefully under hers and gently held on.

The doctor swung the stethoscope back around her neck and made some notes on the chart. For several long minutes, Joey was exposed to inspection and commentary as the fuzziness in her mind receded. Pacey, determined not to look nervous, looked strangely terrified and cheerful – like a clown in a terror movie.

Slowly the words from the doctor's mouth began to come clear. Joey nodded, a jerky little motion, as the surgery was explained to her. The doctor sketched out what Joey could expect for post-operative recovery and her longer-term treatment as the couple sat, listening. Connected at the palms.

After the two left, Pacey used his free hand to drag the chair back. Without letting go of her, he sat down.

"You all right?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

She nodded, squeezing his hand.

"Of course you are." He leaned down and kissed her wrist, his eyes never leaving hers. "Crappy night, huh?"

She nodded again.

They fell quiet, Pacey watching Joey's wan face as she tried to get comfortable. The lights and tubes and wires and beeping and slight chill and noise made it impossible.

"How's your night been?" She tried to give him a quick smile.

He could see that she didn't want to talk about it. Didn't want to talk about ovaries or surgical staples or reproductive endocrinologists. Her dark eyes were exhausted, begging for light and frothy and reassuring.

Pacey happened to be an expert in light and frothy and reassuring.

"Well, Miss Josephine Potter," he teased gently. "Excepting for the little General Hospital surgical drama, I'd have to say that the highlight of the evening was the three cups of that Black Death they call coffee here. That and being tutored in the fine nuances of Vanna's wardrobe choices through the decades, with particular attention spent on the early 90's evening gowns."

"Sounds like you weren't bored," she cracked, her voice hoarse but the color in her cheeks starting to return.

"I am now a veritable expert on rhinestones versus beads," Pacey gave a little laugh. "Actually, Jo, a little crowd has gathered on your behalf down in that party paradise we call a waiting room. Your sister, the siblings McPhee, and … Dawson."

Joey's eyes widened in surprise.

"Normally, I would insert some kind of geometry reference here. But considering the grade I got in Geometry, the nuances of our prior conversation, and how amazing you look lying here, I will, instead, simply say - Hail, the gang's all here."

"How amazing I look," she repeated dryly, her eyebrow up in disbelief.

"Yes. Amazing," he confirmed, sincerely. "I don't think I have ever seen anything more beautiful than you, safe and sound and... snoring, just now."

"I don't snore," she informed him.

"You do. You always have. Little lady-like honks. But that is an argument for another day. If you're up to it, your sister is pacing a groove in the ugly floors out there. OK?"

She took a deep breath, winced a little, but the hurt passed. "OK," she agreed.

"Since you're checking into this swank hotel, is there anything I can get for you from home?" Pacey knew he'd said 'from home' to remind her who he was, where she belonged. He hated the streaks of insecurity tugging inside him, but couldn't help himself.

She thought a moment and asked for a few things. He made a mental list and kissed her forehead as he got up.

"See you soon," he told her.

He fought back the feeling like something bad was still lurking in the night. That he shouldn't leave her sight, should tie himself to her bed like she was a boat in a storm.

For a moment, Pacey couldn't move.

Looking back, Joey had closed her eyes again. _Resting. Peaceful._

He told himself he was being silly and pushed through the curtain.

In the waiting room, the four looked like they were watching the television again. But the moment he came down the hall they all stood quickly.

"She looks good," Pacey told them. "A little bit of the Sci-Fi channel going on with all the machines they got her hooked up to, but overall, good. The doctors were really positive, kept telling her what a great patient she was."

Pacey turned to Bessie. "She's not up for much, but she wants to see you. The nurses can show you where."

Bessie collected her purse and was off like a shot.

Jack sifted his hand through his hair and stifled a yawn. "Do you want me to stay?" he asked.

"No, man. Go home, tuck in your daughter. Joey's going to be asleep most of the night."

"You sure?" Jack asked.

Pacey nodded and gave him a quick half-hug. "I'll call you if anything changes."

Jack turned to Andie, who was biting her lip. It was the first time she'd felt anything less than a confident Amazon all night. "I think I should stay," she told her brother.

Pacey saw in her expression a memory. A flash. A moment, years ago. Of her, in this same place. Of him, staying into the night.

"It's OK," he promised her.

He meant more than just Joey.

Andie brightened. "I don't go on shift til late, so I'll be by in the morning."

"I'd like that," Pacey thanked her.

He watched them go, Jack and Andie. As they collected their things, cleaned up the cups, and made their way out the automatic glass doors. Pacey found himself staring at the night, long after they'd faded from view.

"… And then there were two," Dawson announced softly.

Pacey took a deep breath and finally turned to look at his oldest friend.

Dawson had been standing a little back. Still, listening.

All kinds of undercurrents, that neither of them were bringing up.

_Damn it._

Some conversations were a bitch to start.

"She needs some things," Pacey told Dawson. "Why don't you come with me?"

Dawson stared at Pacey for many long ticks from the clock. "I was hoping…"

Pacey shrugged. "Bessie's with her."

"All right," Dawson agreed. "You want another cup for the road?" He indicated the evil, glowing vending machine.

"Hell, no," Pacey laughed, digging out his car keys and heading for the exit. "I've decided never again put myself at the mercy of 'Christine' over there ever again. There are alternatives."

"Do tell."

"It just so happens," Pacey told him as they stepped into the cool night air. "That I own a restaurant."


	6. 9PM

_W/N: Dawson's Creek doesn't belong to me, I'm just taking the characters out to play._

_This chapter is strictly Pacey/Dawson settling an old score. The moment of Dawson seeing 'the wall' should echo when Joey entered Dawson's room for the first time since she'd sailed off with Pacey._

_Shiney 1983, thank you so much for the review!! There's a Pacey/Andie scene coming up. I heart the feedback. It makes me better – and faster._

**…………………………  
9PM**

Pacey spoke into his headset to the manager on duty at the restaurant. Ordering food and coffee. Having one of the busboys run out to the docks and fetch some things from the 'True Love 2'. Responding to a few issues that had come up during the dinner rush.

When he finally disconnected, he threw a look of apology to Dawson, who waved it off.

"I've probably pace a mile in the parking lot tonight on the phone," Dawson reminded him. He glanced at the empty back seat, and then away.

"Yeah," Pacey said, slowing at a light. "She should be there, right? Snap, crackle, pop with the backseat driving?"

"She should," Dawson agreed. "This whole night…"

"What?"

"No, forget it."

"Say what you want to say, Dawson."

"I've been just thinking, this whole night, that it felt like…"

"When Jen got sick."

"Yes. I mean, not that anything's going to happen to Joey…"

"Damn right."

"But all of us there in the hospital waiting room did take on this familiar, nightmarish quality."

"Nightmare is the right word for it," Pacey sighed and flipped his blinkers, peering into the wet night as he turned.

"But she's going to be fine…"

"Damn right," Pacey repeated. "Better than before, in fact. This whole thing should give her back her life."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"The endometriosis? I thought –"

"No, Pace. Her life. Wasn't it back in New York?"

The temperature in the Cherokee suddenly seemed to drop by 10 degrees. Pacey spared another look at his old friend. "It's whatever – and wherever - she wants it to be, Dawson."

"There aren't a lot of book editing jobs in Capeside. Isn't that why she came to California for the interview?"

"You'd have to ask her," Pacey's shoulders tensed up.

They both fell quiet.

Pacey turned onto a narrow street between two rows of townhouses. Reaching over his head to push a button, a garage door about halfway down on the left started to rise. The bright lights from inside the garage spilled out to the dark street.

He carefully pulled in, pushing the button overhead a second time to bring the doors shut behind them. Pulling the keys from the ignition, he hopped out and headed to a silverish door in the corner. Dawson followed.

The entered into a short hallway behind the kitchen.

Pacey flipped the lights and picked up the phone, listening for messages. Dawson looked around, his curiosity driving him deeper into the townhouse.

"That's right," Pacey noted, hanging up after making some notes on the pad on the counter, "You've never been here – have you?"

"Not inside. Saw the outside the Christmas after uh… the Christmas before last. When we dropped you off. It's nice."

"It's cookie-cutter," Pacey dismissed. He realized that they were back to the polite chit-chat and sighed. Played along. "I gotta tell you, it IS nice to come home to your own place. The couch-surfing lifestyle may seem glamorous on the outside but there's something to be said for being able to unpack."

"I've heard rumors to that effect," Dawson agreed with a quick smile.

"Yeah, yeah. It doesn't compare to certain Hollywood mansions, I'm sure, but I got a deal on it - the guys who did the restoration on the Ice House did this whole development. And Joey's decorating – which is good news all over because we both know that I'm not exactly the 'House of Style'."

Dawson found himself agreeing.

With a glance at his watch, Pacey told him to make himself at home and jogged up the stairs to gather some of Joey's things.

The kitchen was modern and clean and somewhat…plain. But the living room at the front of the house was, indeed, all Joey. It looked like someone had lifted part of her New York apartment up with a crane and brought it to Capeside.

The wood floors, the couch, even the rug. Dawson slowly turned, taking it all in. He stopped, looking in surprise at the wall over the little table by the front door.

It was covered in pictures. Dozens.

All carefully matted and framed in black wood.

Big prints, a couple of drawings, even some tiny snaps that looked like they were taken in a booth somewhere…. He stepped forward when he saw a few of his own black and white photographs, taken during his 'Annie Leibovitz' summer.

Dawson vaguely recalled offering Joey copies sometime after graduating high school.

He traced Jen's smile under a ridiculously big hat.

Then pulled his hand back, overcome for a moment.

Dawson's eyes scanned, seeing his own face, from different ages and (wince) hairstyles over two decades. He saw ghosts – more Jen, plus his dad, Joey's mom, even the 'True Love'. He stared at the children – Alexander, Lilly, and chubby-cheeked Amy.

Pictures of places – like New York, Worthington, and the restaurant. Pictures of their group of friends, over time. Many pictures, he realized with a start, of people he didn't know. Of faces that didn't seem familiar at all. And one of a young Joey in her boat on the creek. Taken, he realized, by someone on his own lawn.

Pictures of… everything, really.

And the one in the middle of it all was the picture Andie had used in the yearbook so many years ago.

_Joey and Pacey..._

_Class Couple._

Dawson stood, taking it all in. Remembering.

"What?" Pacey asked, back down the stairs with a small bag over his shoulder.

"What?" Dawson repeated.

"I thought you said something."

"No, but…" Dawson indicated the wall with a wave of his hand. "It's… wow," he shook his head, unable to come up with the perfect word.

"Erudite as always, old friend," Pacey dropped the bag on a table. "She started it in New York, but it was way more spread out there. Something, ain't it? About five months ago, just before Christmas, I get home from the restaurant one afternoon and she and Jack and Doug are in here making holes in the wall and letting Amy play with a plastic level tool. The sum total of my involvement was patching the mistakes and installing the pot lights." He pointed up at the little lights in the ceiling.

"I don't recognize some of the faces..."

"We're not a refrigerator light that goes out when you're not here, you know. The little people keep moving across the landscape, meet new people, sometimes share social occasions."

"Ah, that would explain how my sister grew 3 inches last year and got some unnamed 4th grader as a boyfriend," Dawson replied.

"An older man," Pacey noted. "God, just think - we were about the age Lilly is now when we first met Miss Josephine. Do you remember the first time I walked in your front door and up those steps to find Joey in your room? What did I know from existential bonds that reach beyond life and death and peanut butter sandwiches? All I could think was that I didn't want to share my best friend with an obnoxious cootie-infested girl."

Dawson gave a short laugh. "And you said so. Loudly."

"Yeah," Pacey agreed. "Who could have guessed then she would become my life?"

They locked eyes.

"You know, Dawson, ever since I saw you coming down the hallway at the hospital," Pacey said carefully, "It's been obvious that is something going on."

Dawson didn't respond and Pacey had a flash of uncertainty. This conversation was turning out to be more than the anticipated bitch he's anticipated. It was, in fact, turning out to be an 800-pound gorilla bitch. With its mouth taped shut.

Then Dawson turned back to the wall and the pictures. "It surprised me when she gave up her apartment and came back to Capeside. She had all these dreams, Pace."

"She still does."

"I offered to take her up to Santa Monica. See the pier. She told me – no beaches. Half the world races from LAX straight to the ocean, but Joey wanted to see the museums."

"Sounds about right. You remember winters in Capeside, not exactly a season of bountiful culture. Unless you consider the talent night fundraiser for the Fraternal Order culture – which, I assure you, no one in their right mind does."

"Did she tell you that she re-wrote the script for next season's opener? I figured she'd have some good feedback, she always did, but she really nailed some of the dialogue…"

"Dawson," Pacey interrupted. "Look. I didn't exactly rope the woman and bring her back as a prize for a 4H ribbon. This is where she wanted to be while dealing with her condition. In Capeside. Yes. With me. Yes. You're going on and on like I've got Joey locked in the attic."

"You're right," Dawson agreed. "The truth is, I'm trying to justify myself. But I can't."

"Justify what," Pacey asked, his voice deadly quiet.

The room seemed to go bright, like the sun had just burst from behind a cloud even though it was night. Dawson turned back, a glint of reflection catching the blond of his hair. His eyes in shadow, unreadable.

"It's... nothing," Dawson told him.

"Nothing," Pacey repeated, disbelieving.

Dawson shrugged.

"...When she got off that plane from visiting you, Joey looked like a ghost. She didn't want to talk about what had happened. I figured, maybe you'd told her you'd fallen in love or were getting married or something. Or worse…" Pacey shook his head. "Maybe having a baby with someone. Because right now, that kind of news could, theoretically, kill her."

"Me? A baby? With who?"

"How the hell would I know?" Pacey retorted. "Now you've shown up here, first time in over a year…"

"Joey's was having surgery!"

"Outpatient, Dawson!"

"OK,' Dawson surrendered. "OK. When she was visiting, I realized how much I missed her. That's all. I got the idea that…"

Pacey waited.

"I got the idea," Dawson breathed. "That I wanted her back."

Pacey took a deep breath, fighting back a sudden tsunami wave of insecurities. Then he took a step closer to Dawson.

"God, Pacey." Dawson looked at his old friend and tried to will him to understand. What it was like to have Joey laughing in his kitchen. To feel alive around a woman, when he hadn't for so long. What it was like to have her smile in his life again, to realize that no one ever 'got' him the way she did. To have these overwhelming feelings of attraction that he'd thought were tucked away.

Pacey kept waiting.

"I kissed her at the airport, goodbye. It was a goodbye kiss," Dawson repeated. "At least at first. I – and she, too, I think - were surprised by what it turned into, Pace. But it was just a second, I swear. And we haven't spoken since, OK?"

There was a blur of movement. Primitive, physical, sudden.

And then very methodically, two thoughts coalesced sharply into Pacey's mind.

Number One was that Joey Potter, unfortunately, did have a bad habit of kissing other men. Sometimes, like with Jack and Dawson, it had been her way of building an escape hatch out of a situation. Other times, like with himself and… oh, a shopping list of others, it had been her way of tipping her toe in the pool before dashing away. And as soon as Joey was recovered, he was going to sit her down and have a long talk about this.

And Number Two was that, in the future, he needed to remember to keep his thumb out and throw with his arm, not with his wrist. Because, fuck, that hurt.

For Dawson's part, he'd never seen it coming. Felt the bang of the wood floor on the back of his head long before he realized, with shock, that Pacey's fist had just landed hard with his jaw.

There was a part of him that realized that he'd probably had it coming.

But the louder part was replaying pictures in his mind of lost money, broken boats, and the look on Joey's face when it had sunk in that she was going off to Pacey.

Dawson gathered himself up and launched.


	7. 10PM

_W/N: Dawson's Creek doesn't belong to me, I'm just taking the characters out to play._

_After this, there are only 2 more chapters._

_Thank you! To smokeydog, LiZ457, shiney1983 for the time and care to review my first DC Fanfic. You kept me going when I was fighting with this chapter, because it just wasn't right. Nothing like having one of each - Pacey/Andie, Pacey/Joey and Dawson/Joey - fans telling you to keep going!_

_Please (beg, beg) as always, let me know what you think...!_

**…………………………  
10PM**

Pacey leaned against the wall, gagging. A second to catch his breath and try not to vomit up a gallon of bad coffee, after being slammed in the gut with about 180 pounds force in the shape of Dawson Leery's head.

Before he could swallow, Dawson brought a punch around. Hard, fast, and aimed for his face.

Pacey ducked.

Brought his knuckles up under Dawson's jaw with one hand and used his other as a shield.

Too little, too late.

They hit each other almost in the exact same moment, like boxers in a slow motion film.

Pacey felt Dawson's blow connect, slamming his own hand into the side of his nose. Felt the immediate throb that was impossible to ignore. The thick stabbing feeling immediately blooming below his eyes.

_Damn_.

Dawson himself stumbled back, his neck snapped back from the force of the hit. Pinwheeled his arms, tried to stop. Couldn't. Reached back to cushion his fall.

Dawson had fallen into the side of the stairs, a dull piercing on his cheek. He reached up and realized he'd caught a scratch. His fingers pink with a little blood. Started scrambling back up.

Pacey groaned and got ready to charge Dawson into the next century. Heard a buzzing sound and blinked. And then his phone began to vibrate on his thigh.

With a cautious eye on Dawson, he pulled the cell from his pocket.

"It's the hospital," he announced.

Dawson grunted and sat back down.

Pacey answered, and then found himself waiting for a doctor to speak to him. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"This is Pacey Witter," Pacey confirmed, once the doctor came on the line. He looked over at Dawson, who was rubbing his neck and staring at him expectantly.

He pressed the phone against his ear and walked into the kitchen. "What's happened?"

"Joey had some shortness of breath and chest pain," it was a new doctor, one whose voice Pacey didn't recognize. "Her EKG is normal. I've had her taken over to radiology for a CT pulmonary angiography, just to rule things out."

"Rule, uh, what, exactly…" Pacey didn't even know what to ask.

"With the kind of surgery she's just had, we'll want to exclude the possibility of an embolism. The scan is pretty straightforward, takes about 30 minutes."

"And she's having this now?"

"Yes."

"OK, I'm on my way," Pacey snapped the phone shut.

"What is it?" Dawson asked quietly from the doorway.

Pacey pulled the freezer door open. He dug out two bags of frozen peas and threw one at Dawson. Pressing the other into his face, he finally answered, "They think she might have an embolism, whatever the hell that is."

"A clot," Dawson replied, holding the other bag against his jaw. "We should…"

"Yeah," Pacey agreed, needing to move. He burst past Dawson and grabbed Joey's bag and scooped up his keys off the counter as he raced to the door out to the garage.

"Are you coming?" He demanded, snapping the garage door opener button and climbing back into the Cherokee.

"Yeah," Dawson answered, running to keep up.

As soon as Pacey had maneuvered back out to the main street to the hospital, he tucked his headset into his ear and pressed one of his speed dial numbers.

"Look, if you want to focus on driving – I can make any calls…"

"Dawson?" Pacey exhaled, the adrenaline pumping through him. "Shut up."

Andie answered on the third ring. "What's happened?" she asked, cutting right past the preliminaries.

"They've taken her for something called a CT pulmonary angiography," Pacey explained.

"What were her symptoms?"

"I don't know; I was at the damn townhouse. I wasn't there!"

"What did they _say_, Pace?"

"Shortness of breath, chest pain," he remembered, flipping on his blinkers for a turn. "Andie, is this… I mean…"

"Pacey, it's going to be all right," Andie soothed. "The CT will show one way or the other what's going on. The most probable diagnosis would be an embolism - which, yes, Joey's kind of surgery can cause. It can usually be treated with blood thinners. They did an EKG?"

"Yes, normal."

"OK, put that in the 'good' column. Where are you?"

"Almost there," Pacey looked both ways before crossing over to the street leading up to the hospital.

"See you soon," she answered. Before he could argue that she shouldn't go to the trouble – she hung up.

Pacey dropped the phone into the cup holder and grabbed the bag of peas back up. The throbbing was getting distracting.

He and Dawson didn't speak. A quiet that used to be comfortable, but they'd never really gotten that back.

It was a minute's jog from the parking spot back into the floodlit whiteness of the hospital. He didn't look back to see if Dawson followed.

"Josephine Potter," Pacey announced at the nurse's station.

"Yes, Mr. Witter," the nurse recognized him. "She hasn't been brought back up from radiology yet. I'll come find you," she promised.

"Is she all right?"

"She was breathing fine on her own when they took her down." She gave Pacey a reassuring smile. "Just have a seat, and I promise - you'll be the first to know when gets back on the floor."

"OK." He found his way back to the waiting area but didn't sit down. Just stared at the coffee machine.

Dawson was already standing there, absently rubbing his sore cheek.

"We have to…"

"We don't actually," Pacey interrupted, holding up a hand.

"She's in here somewhere," Dawson responded, his voice low and angry. "And you know as well as I do that the last thing that Joey would want is for us to be fighting. This isn't the time or place…"

"Then you shouldn't have come, Dawson. I mean, God, if this isn't the time or the place – why the hell are you here?"

"Whatever you may like to think, Pace, you don't get to be the only one who's worried about her, the only one who cares."

"You do understand that you're talking about the woman I live with. My girlfriend. Dawson, you kissed my _girlfriend_. The truckload of gall it takes for you to stand here, HERE, and try and tell me about Joey…"

"You can't still be fighting over her," Andie announced, her voice thick with frustration. "It's 10 years later. This is done."

They both swung around to look at her, standing in the hallway.

"Dawson…" she stepped closer. "You're bleeding. What…"

He wiped his cheek, and shrugged. She looked at Pacey, getting close to his nose, and sighed loudly. "You really have been fighting over her, haven't you?"

They both looked away.

"Dawson," she tugged his arm and pulled him towards the nurses station. "Get a Band-Aid. And some antiseptic cream. Go on."

He gave in and walked away down the hall. Andie returned to Pacey, unable to hide the motions playing out on her face.

"What happened?" she asked softly, tugging him down into a seat to get a closer look at the swelling on his face.

"She's still down having the scan."

"No, to start _this_."

"Oh, that. It seems Dawson had a renaissance when she was visiting. He kissed her, Andie. And now he's here, I don't know…" His voice broke a little, and he tried to find Andie's eyes.

She nodded, but didn't say anything. Pressed into a bruise with her finger.

Pacey winced but sat still.

"You'll live," she pronounced. "An ice pack will help, but you're probably going to have a black eye out of this in the morning."

Pacey nodded, leaning in and resting his head on her shoulder.

She patted his back and let him relax there for a long moment before pushing him away. "Pace…"

"Yeah?" He rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand and blinked a couple of times.

"I cheated on you."

Pacey glanced at her in confusion.

"In high school, I cheated on you. You were my first love. My first time in love. And most people … they don't get that. What we had. It was incredible. Extraordinary. And yet, I cheated on you…"

"You, uh, weren't exactly yourself, Andie…"

"No, I wasn't. In fact, it could be argued that I wasn't exactly myself until I got off the plane in Italy and shed all those expectations I'd been carrying around my whole life. But that's not the point. The point is I threw us away. One of the things I would change – if I could – would be to go back and undo that. Undo that moment when I got into bed with someone else. Because it ended our amazing relationship by breaking the trust you had in us."

Pacey wanted to interrupt, but Andie squeezed his arm and gently shook her head.

"It haunted me, for a long time. Even when I got back and started at Harvard. I mean, I'm glad we're friends. I am. There's a connection, it doesn't go away."

"I hope it never does."

She smiled. "But I had to figure out, if I could, why I did that, Pace. Why I sabotaged the best thing in my life. Luckily, I happened to be in therapy," she gave him a rueful look. "And what I found out is that people like us, kids who grow up with parents who drink, who are addicted, who carry around that chaos, we end up pretty much in two camps. Overachieving control freaks…" she pointed at herself.

"And irresponsible underachievers?"

"Pretty much," they shared a grin of understanding. "But there's one curse for both camps… we don't trust happiness. To the point that we sabotage it. When we get happy, that's a signal that the other shoe should be dropping. Even if we have to drive to the mall, find a shoe store, climb the ladder, and drop it ourselves."

"You're telling me that I made this thing with Dawson happen?"

"No. Not at all. See, the thing about a curse is – it can be broken. Just look at your life, Pace. You've already done it in so many ways. No one could even try to call Pacey Witter of Capeside either irresponsible or an underachiever. You run one of the most successful restaurants in town, you've got friends, your boat, and you live with the woman you have loved since you were in High School. I mean, Joey's health is a struggle – no one is arguing that. But overall, your life seems pretty good, Pace."

"It is. It was, until…"

"Dawson kissed her?"

He nodded.

"But she came home to you?"

He nodded again.

"Do you think she's in love with Dawson?"

He slowly shook his head.

"Then…" Andie gave him reserved smile. "Break the curse. Choose to be happy, Pace."

Pacey thought it over in his head for a few moments. Then he reached over and lightly kissed Andie's cheek. "I'm always saying thank you," he whispered. "But tonight, you really are a miracle."

Andie nodded and rested her forehead on his for a second.

"Sometimes, I wish..."

"If wishes were fishes, Pace..." She stood up and brushed her pants down. "I'll see if I can score you an ice pack while I see what's going on with Joey."

He watched her walk down the hallway with a kind of amazement - and a little melancholy.

Andie reached the nurses station at the same time as one of the doctors from earlier in the night. He recognized her, and turned to answer her questions.

Pacey rubbed his nose and fought back a yawn. The adrenaline was fading, and exhaustion and soreness and worry was pressing into him. He eyed the evil vending machine.

"Oh, no, Christine…even if you were the last coffee machine in hell…" he muttered.

"Sir?"

Pacey turned to see one of his busboys from the restaurant pushing a wheelchair towards him loaded with paper bags and about 10 carafes.

"I, uh, commandeered…"

"What IS all that?" Pacey demanded.

"The food you ordered, sir? And coffee?"

"How much coffee, exactly?"

The busboy looked down at the pile on the wheelchair and then back up at Pacey. "Um, all of it?"

Pacey shook his head. And then burst out laughing


	8. 11PM

_W/N: Dawson's Creek doesn't belong to me, I'm just taking the characters out to play._

_This is the second-to-last chapter, and could also be titled "Dawson's Apology (and about time).  
_

_I thought it was a pretty big flaw in the finale that a) Dawson and Pacey didn't really resolve their relationship and b) that Dawson was never shown reacting to Joey's choice._

_I also thought I had this chapter done, except the conversation between Joey and Dawson seemed to maudlin. Thanks for the patience to let me take an extra day and tighten that up.   
_

_And Thank you so much, for taking the time to read. And a special thank you for those generous enough to review. And to think how nervous I was to post this story… you've made me feel like it was, maybe, good enough to share._

_Please (beg, beg) as always, let me know what you think...!_

**…………………………  
11PM**

Dawson suspected that the bright orange smiley-face band-aid on his cheek was a nurse's idea of retribution for getting into a fistfight.

He touched it with his fingers as he wandered lost in the labyrinth of hallways from Urgent Care back to Post-Op.

Another turn, and he was facing a bank of elevators. The doors pinged, and Bessie Potter was standing in front him.

With a jolt of recognition, Dawson quickly moved out of the way. Bessie exited, followed by a nurse's assistant pushing Joey's gurney out into the hallway.

His eyes dropped to Joey's dozing face.

"She's fine," Bessie said quietly. Dawson nodded and followed them into a curtained area. He watched the assistant hook up monitors and make some notes in the chart before leaving.

"What did the scan say?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Joey chimed in, blinking her eyes open.

"According to the technician in the booth there was no clot," Bessie told them both. "They injected a dye and it showed everything working the way it should. You have pretty colorful lungs, sis."

Joey gave a little smile.

Bessie glanced at Dawson, glanced at Joey, and felt a lot of things she decided not to say. "Dawson, if you're going to be here…"

"Oh, sure," he responded, changing places with Bessie as she slipped down the hall.

He took Joey's hand cautiously. "All things considered, you look magnificent. How are you feeling?"

"Much better, actually." Joey looked around. "Where's Pacey?"

"Waiting room. I was hoping to have a minute..."

She squinted against the bright overhead lights. "What's wrong with your face?"

Dawson grimaced, and didn't reply.

"You told him," she accused, tugging her hand away.

Dawson pulled over a chair and sat down. "Joey, considering where we are and why we're here, I really don't want to cross into the blue area on the conversational map known as 'Here Be Dragons'."

She stared away from him. Her lips pursed and her jaw tight with emotion.

"All right, yes. Yes, I did," he admitted.

"To excise your guilt? To eternally prove something?"

"Is that what you think?" he challenged.

She turned her head to finally look at him.

"Joey, since what happened at the airport, I've been utterly distracted. There's never been such a thing as 'just a kiss' between us."

"No,' she agreed.

"So forgive me for wondering what happens now. You're my touchstone, Joey. In a truly meaningful way, you connect me to what's real. While you were visiting, I kept realizing how good it felt to be living my life instead of writing it my head. How much I'd crawled back into this Hollywood cocoon, even though I swore I wouldn't after Jen died. And at the airport, I had a moment of not wanting you to leave. Of grabbing for a life-altering detour."

When she didn't say anything, Dawson took a deep breath and plowed ahead. "At first when you wouldn't take my calls, I panicked. Then I got here and - Joey, you spent a _week_ with me. And I get here, and I see that wall of pictures... it was like finding out about you and him all over again. Or that you'd slept together and lied about it." He rubbed his face, fighting his frustration.

"God, we can't be still debating this, Dawson. It's been..."

"This is now, Joey. Right _now_. We have to find a way to be honest. I had a moment, a stupid moment, and I took advantage of this thing that's always been between us. But it's blatantly obvious now, Joey. You're not just staying at his place. And you're not moving to California. This is your _home_. And I shouldn't have kissed you."

"And I shouldn't have kissed back," she responded.

Their eyes locked and Dawson could see the misery in her expression. "You can't keep underestimating us, Joey. I think you met the person you were meant to love forever right in my own yard. And I think we've both been afraid that if you said that out loud - of what it would do to _us_. But I'm asking you, Joey."

She nodded, wiping her face with her free hand. "I'm…" she met his eyes. "I'm in love with Pacey, Dawson. I think… No, I know, I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

"All right," he exhaled. He let the silence fall between them, her hand tight in his. "Kind of takes the nobility out of declaring it didn't matter who we ended up with when you look behind the curtain and see I'd always assumed it would be with each other."

"I was the same way," she assured him. "I mean, Dawson and Joey, it was inevitable – right?"

"Turns out, not so much," he countered.

"Dawson?" she searched his face. "Are we going to be OK?"

"Yes," he answered. He saw her uncertainty, her exhaustion, and remembered where they were. What the night had been. He summoned up a reassuring smile. "Yes," he repeated, knowing it was true. "I mean, I think we can safely say that slumber parties are forever off the menu but you're my best friend, Joey. And that bond, it's transcendent."

"Soul-mates," she whispered. "What about you and Pacey…?"

"I'll talk to him," he promised. "You just rest."

When Bessie found her way back a few moments later, she saw Joey resting with her hand held reverently between Dawson's. She sighed.

"Everything all right?"

Dawson said it was and they switched places.

"They'll only let one of us back here at a time," she told him.

"Ah."

He kissed Joey's forehead. "And I'll be back in the morning, all right?"

She nodded sleepily.

Dawson made his way out of the maze of curtains to the hallway and around to the waiting room.

Andie and Pacey were sipping coffee from cups with a familiar logo on it.

Pacey stood as Dawson approached.

"What happened to you owning a restaurant?" Dawson tried to joke.

"I do. I just hate our coffee."

Dawson looked over at the small table that had been set up next to the vending machine. There were some sandwiches, chips, cookies, cups, and about a dozen carafes.

"There was more, but word got out and I think ever member of the hospital workforce descended." Andie told him. "And most of the patients."

"Can I talk to you?" Pacey interrupted, looking intently at Dawson. He squeezed Andie's shoulder with a look that said everything was all right and led Dawson out into the drizzling parking lot.

"I was wrong," Dawson announced the moment the doors hissed shut behind them. "I should have said it back at your house. I should have told you that I'm sorry."

"Not me you should be apologizing to," Pacey pointed out.

"I've said it to Joey. But I need to say it to you, too. Pacey, I'm sorry."

"For kissing Joey?"

"No, actually. For kissing your girlfriend."

Pacey let out a long breath. "You know, I think this is the first time that I can remember you on this particular side of the apology. What the hell happened, Dawson?"

"Standing in the airport, I had a blinding vision about what came next."

"Which was…?"

"Nothing. This amazing woman, who've I've been half in love with for half my life, was going to get on a plane. And she wasn't coming back."

"Technically, she was never really there, in the way you mean, in the first place."

"I realize that now."

Pacey gave him a look. "Almost two years, man."

"Not a shining moment," Dawson conceded, watching headlights drift through the mist of the parking lot. "Out in California, being around her away from here – it's easy to imagine things."

Pacey didn't respond, just worked at keeping a lid on his anger.

"When you two fell in love, got on a boat, and sailed a few thousand miles, there was a part of me that thought it was just…"

"What?"

"Pacey, you were still in high school when you two figured out toothpaste tubes and how to pay for what, and who washes and who puts away. I'm 27 years old and the closest I've ever come to sharing my life with a woman was a few months with Jen in Gram's attic."

Dawson glanced at Pacey. "I really am sorry. No excuses."

"So, you and she…"

"Friends," Dawson answered, raking a hand through his hair. "Was it this hard for you, trying to make peace with me all those times?"

"_Shit_, yes," Pacey told him, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"You know, I missed this. I miss you, Pacey. Badly. Not that I can solve anything with a conversation but I want us to be friends again. All of us. I want to roll up this whole drama for posterity and tie it up with some pithy Shakespeare quote. "

"Dawson," Pacey said slowly. "It's not that easy."

"I know." Dawson dropped his jaw down to look at Pacey, square in the eye. "Life isn't a script, although if you come to California you may wonder. But we have to start somewhere." He offered his hand for Pacey to shake.

And Pacey shook it.

Andie slipped through the doors. "Pacey? Dawson? The doctor confirmed that the results were negative. No clots. They're moving her up to a room on the surgical floor for the night."

"I, uh, will see her in the morning," Dawson demurred.

Andie looked at Dawson and then back at Pacey. "I'll drive you," she offered. "You grabbed a cab from the airport, right? Jack and Doug's place is pretty close to your mom's."

Pacey held Andie tight for a long embrace. "She's really all right?"

"They think she had some kind of stress reaction," Andie responded, pulling her windbreaker from where it was tied around her waist and pulling it over her head. "Go, Pace."

"Thanks for the ride," Dawson told her, rushing back into the hospital with Pacey to grab his bag off one of the seats.

"See you later," Pacey said quietly. Dawson nodded.

Pacey grabbed his own bag and one of the carafes off the table. Then he began jogging back to the nurses' station.

"Hey! Pacey!"

He turned.

"Life is a tale told by an idiot - full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Pacey grinned.

A nurse greeted him "They're getting ready to move her to a room. Follow me."

"Absolutely," Pacey agreed and obediently began following her down the hall.


	9. Midnight

_W/N: Dawson's Creek doesn't belong to me, I'm just taking the characters out to play._

_This is the end. It is also my favorite chapter (although the Wheel of Fortune scene has a special place in my heart) – which is good, because the last chapter was my least favorite. I flipped around some dialogue, and Dawson ended up being the brave one in those scenes – I have to live with that, now. Sigh._

_Before I sign off, one last BIG thank you to all the readers._

_And? To all the reviewers: LiZ457 (Here's your Joey and Pacey), smokeydog (You see? I didn't leave Dawson unrequited - just returned to their original friendship) shiney1983 (All the wonderful comments and complements, that meant so much) PaceyW'sgirl (Our guy definitely gets the girl) Jm-b (My first ever commenter!) … all the comments were the fuel that kept me going, more than you know._

_This has been a wonderful experience. Again, thank you. And please, if you have the time – tell me what you think. Now that it is done._

**…………………………  
Midnight**

"It turns out? Room 314 is not on the 3rd floor," he said to Bessie, coming to a stop in the doorway.

"There you are," Bessie greeted him with relief. "I was thinking of coming to find you, but I didn't know if I would ever find my way back. The nurse pushing the gurney made at least 3 u-turns. Are we still even in Capeside?"

"Hell if I know. The nurse leading me turned back halfway here. At some point, I swear I traveled through an underground bunker looking for you. We may be in Maine at this point."

Bessie smiled and tried to cover a yawn.

"How's our girl?" he whispered, dropping his bag by the bedside table and leaning in to look at Joey.

"They gave her some pain-killer and she's been mostly asleep since."

He glanced at Bessie. "Looks like you're mostly asleep, too."

She shrugged.

"Well, night shift is here, so go home, Bess. Get some rest."

Bessie didn't argue. "The doctors will be by for rounds early in the morning. I'll be back, then." She gathered up her purse and stood for a second, watching her sister. "Go easy on her, Pacey. It was a hard night."

"You think I don't know that?" He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Bessie, after the night this has been, I simply don't have it in me to discuss life, death, or peanut butter sandwiches. I just want her to rest and get better. Take her home as soon as possible. Eat some real human food, and drink actual coffee-flavored coffee. Have a long hot shower and change of clothes. Those are my priorities, I promise you."

They shared a look of understanding.

After Bessie left, Pacey dragged over another chair to put his feet up. From this bag, he pulled a picture frame for the bedside table, then an insulated coffee cup. He filled it partway from the carafe he'd been carrying and took a sip. Even lukewarm and old, it was better than the machine.

Draping an arm onto the bed to touch her hand, Pacey was determined to keep watch and make sure she was all right.

He was asleep in minutes.

"Pacey? Pace?"

He jumped, coming awake in a flash. "Uh, hey," he smiled, chafing his face and blinking. "I'm awake."

"Hey, Pace," she smiled from her pillow.

"Hey, princess," he smiled back, leaning over to kiss her cheek and get a good look at her. "How you feeling?"

"Sore, and a strange pinching. But I think it's normal. Bessie go home?"

"She'll be back in the morning."

"You brought it," she glanced at the bedside table.

"You asked me to," he reminded her. Her favorite picture of them, brought from home in its big yellow frame. "I've got your other stuff, too. Your toothbrush, and…" he realized she was staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"Does it hurt?" She looked pointedly at his face.

"Oh," he exhaled. Gingerly patted the sore spot under his eye. "No, not really."

She gave him a disapproving glare and he shook his head at her, teasingly. Pacey hunted for his mug, and took a big swallow.

"Um, do I get any of that?" she asked.

"No. You get…" he pulled up a rolling table and inspected a pink plastic cup. "Melted ice chips."

"A gastronomic delight, I'm sure."

He passed her the cup and she sipped on the cold water. Looking out the window at the dark night sky, he sighed. "This is the absolute longest night."

"Come a little closer," she offered, patting the space next to her on the hospital bed.

"You sure it's all right?" he asked, sparing a quick glance first towards to the monitors and then to her stomach.

"I'm sure."

He very carefully slid his weight next to her. Laying on his side, to take up as a little room as possible. His face resting on the pillow facing her.

"This all right? I'm not on any wires or anything?"

"You're fine," she assured him, tugging the ends of her blankets over him. In the warmth, their legs overlapped and the fingers intertwined.

He kissed her lips, gently.

"Pacey?"

"No, Joey."

"No? How do you know what I'm going to say?"

"I don't. But I strongly suspect. And based on those suspicions, I must make you aware that I have promised your sister that there will be nothing deep discussed tonight."

"Nothing deep?" she repeated, arching an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Absolutely. It's gotta be fluffy bunnies all the way."

"Since when is Bessie the boss of you?"

"She's not. But this night… scared the ever-living daylights out of me, Jo. I just, I just want to lie here and know you're going to be all right."

"Pace?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to be all right."

Pacey exhaled deeply and buried his lips in her hair. The rain picked up outside, splashing louder.

"But there's something I need to tell you."

"Yes, Joey?"

"I kissed Dawson."

"Yes, Joey. I heard. I wish I'd heard from you, but nevertheless..."

"I'm sorry."

He searched her dark eyes. "Planning on doing it again?"

"No," she assured him fervently, leaning her forehead against his cheek.

"You sure?"

"Yes. It was, I know this sounds crazy, but I think in retrospect… it was kind of a goodbye."

"Next time? Shake hands, please."

She gave a small laugh. "You don't believe me?"

"Goodbye to Dawson?"

"Not to our friendship. To the… possibility of it ever being anything more."

He grew still. "What does that mean, Jo?"

"You know this thing we don't talk about?"

"Which thing we don't talk about, Jo? Because given our history, the sheer number of things we've avoided talking about would stun a team of oxen in its tracks."

She gave him a tiny nudge. "The baby, us, forever… _thing_."

"Ah, that thing."

"Yes."

"Yes, I know that thing."

"Well, there I was in California. And it's beautiful and sunny. And I go to this interview, where they're talking about making these wonderful books into 'accessible treatments' of all things. And then I'm hanging out at Dawson's place, explaining about the elections and the town meetings, and sitting in the back with you and Jack..."

"We have to sit in the back," he pointed out. "Otherwise, we'd distract Dougie with our Gilmoresque banter."

"True," she agreed. "And Dawson's talking about how great it would be if I moved out there and all I could think was – 'I miss Pacey. I miss home'."

"Home?" Pacey asked.

"Home."

"I don't think I've ever heard you say you missed Capeside, much less call it home."

"It's home, Pace. For one thing, it has all my stuff. And for another, it has you."

"Jo, I could move to California. Or New York. Or Paris. Anywhere you're happy…"

"No. No. No." She touched his lips with a finger. "You, Pacey Witter, are a Capeside townie. You actually attend those little league games. You may hate Sunday brunch with your family, but you rarely miss one." She reached out her hand, and he entwined his fingers softly with hers. "The boat is registered here, the restaurant is here…"

"But being a 'townie' was your nightmare, Jo. I mean it when I say that I can be happy wherever..."

"…Our family is here, our friends are here," she continued, as though he hadn't spoken. "And I'm happy here, Pace," she cradled his face in her palm. "I can't pretend I didn't grow up dreaming of getting out of Capeside. I hated this place because of how it made me feel. How I was painted. How trapped I felt, with no choices and no way out from how hard things got sometimes."

Pacey nodded.

"But now I'm a decade older. I attended a great university; I traveled. I lived in Paris. I paid a Manhattan rent for a few years." She smiled. "And since the moment I walked up the sidewalk that night and saw what you'd created with the Ice House, I had my eyes opened in a new way about this town."

She traced his cheek with her thumb and gave him a small smile. "I'm not that tortured 16-year-old anymore, Pace. And the perspective I had then is definitely not the perspective I have as a grown woman, completely in love, and thinking about the best place to make a home and start a family."

Pacey felt every last atom of oxygen rush out of his body. "Um," he grunted, dropping his head down and trying to breath. "What are you saying here, Jo?"

"Do you recall, back in high school? Recommendations?"

He raised his head. The look he gave her reminded Joey that Pacey remembered _everything_.

"Right. And you asked – when did you get to be that guy? The one who knows me best?"

He nodded.

"The answer is **now**. You're that guy now, Pace. You know me better than anyone in the world. So do you have to ask what's in my heart? Why I don't want to move to California? Or if I really want to make my future here, in Capeside, with you?"

"Are you sure?" he whispered. Their eyes locked, inches apart on the pillow.

"I think I was sure before my trip. But now? Yes, Pacey. I'm sure. No question."

"Well, perhaps one question," he corrected. "An important one."

She felt the chill of surprise up and down her skin and braced, a little.

The world went quiet.

Just for an instant.

The rain abated from the window, the monitors seemed to muffle, and even the sounds of the hospital outside the room receded into whispers.

_In his eyes, Pacey asked Josephine Potter to marry him._

_And in her eyes, Joey told Pacey Witter… yes._

And as his lips formed to say it out loud, she bent, slightly, to kiss him.

In a flash, he understood. "Maybe…when the rain stops…" he whispered against her lips. "And we leave this hospital…"

"You could ask me to…go for a sail?" she prompted.

"We could throw anchor and have dinner…"

"But not fish."

"Not fish," he chuckled, giving her another quick kiss.

"After all, you did promise Bessie…"

"I did," he agreed. "Fluffy bunnies."

The rain returned with a wind, slapping the window. The beeping of the monitor was quick and sharp. Someone pushed something past the door with a rattle.

"So…"

"So," he repeated. "Hmm, did I tell you I had one of the staff run out to the boat?"

"Did they find it?"

"They did, indeed," he rolled to his other side, leaning off the bed to rummage around in his bag. "Got it," he announced.

"Start at the beginning?" Joey asked, tucking her head into the crook of his arm as he repositioned himself again very carefully beside her.

He took a deep breath, and opened the book. "_Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it. Many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwelled the Sea King and his subjects and his six beautiful daughters; of which the youngest was the prettiest of them all…._"


	10. Chapter 10

_Note: Dawson's Creek and all its inhabitants belong to the mind of Kevin Williamson, and the corporations of the WB, and assorted others. I am just taking them out to play. Please don't sue me._

_W/N: This is the follow-up to my story "Ever I Loved" ( also works as a standalone. You don't have to read the previous story, although I will love you forever if you do. And especially if you comment/review._

**…………………………...  
The Backyard of the B&B, The Wedding Day**

As the breeze softly played with their hair and the flowers, everyone turned to look back.

An aisle had been made between the seats, freshly cut grass that smelled like everything new and green.

Standing there, ready to take that long walk to the pavilion, were Amy and Jack.

A bit of stage fright had driven the 3-year-old up into her father's arms. He'd carefully tucked the fluffy white layers of tulle around her and carried her (step-together, step-together) as she trickled rose petals from the basket she held against her chest.

Next came Lily. Her mother and stepfather frantically photographing her as she jauntily followed, making the skirt of her dress swing.

And then, with a swell of music from the quartet, Bessie and Joey stepped out from the door of the Bed and Breakfast.

Pacey felt like he'd been zapped with his brother's taser.

To see her was to realize that this amazing woman really was about to marry him.

_Joey was his bride. Pacey Witter's bride._

_How off-the-wall surreal was that?_

Her wedding dress was a simple column, fitted through the waist. She carried a simple bouquet in her hand. Her hair was twisted up, with a flower over one ear.

_She was amazing._

Their arms linked, Joey and Bessie stepped on to the rose petal path and began their slow walk.

Pacey stood next to Doug on the pavilion and watched her approach. Tried to remember how to breathe.

Joey's soft smile grew as their eyes met. A few loose curls of hair on her shoulder caught in the breeze.

He knew he would remember this moment for the rest of his life.


End file.
